{"id":55391,"date":"2017-12-06T02:13:21","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T02:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=55391"},"modified":"2017-12-06T02:17:14","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T02:17:14","slug":"my-mother-is-white-i-am-not-on-being-biracial-without-identity-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=55391","title":{"rendered":"My Mother Is White. I Am Not: On Being Biracial Without Identity Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Mother Is White. I Am Not: On Being Biracial Without Identity Issues<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Very Smart Brothas<\/a>
\nThe Root<\/a>
\n2017-12-05<\/p>\n

Panama Jackson<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nPanama Jackson<\/a>, 1 year old, with his dad (Panama Jackson)<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: This piece speaks from the perspective of being biracial with black and white parents. I realize that other biracial ethnic mixes may or may not share any of these experiences.<\/em><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece called \u201cBlack Folks Who, Though Invited, Probably Wouldn\u2019t Come to the Cookout<\/a>.\u201d On this list I included the following people: Mariah Carey<\/a>, Meghan Markle<\/a>, Rashida Jones<\/a> and Lenny Kravitz<\/a>. Would they come? We many never know, but sure as shootin\u2019 an early comment on Facebook pointed out, solely, that \u201cMariah Carey is biracial. I believe Megan Merkel [sic] is biracial as well \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

While I can\u2019t speak for the commenter, my assumption is that their biracialness excludes them from the list with the lead of \u201cBlack Folks,\u201d though I\u2019m surprised he didn\u2019t realize that Rashida and Lenny are also biracial in the way that Sean Fury can appreciate<\/a>. Put a pin in this…<\/p>\n

…Self-identity<\/strong> is defined as the recognition of one\u2019s potential and qualities as an individual, especially in relation to social context.<\/p>\n

Self-identity.<\/p>\n

Here is where I point out some facts about myself. I am mixed. I\u2019m the product of a Caucasian woman from France<\/a> and a black man from Alabama<\/a>. I will tell you, without hesitation, that I am biracial.<\/p>\n

What I will also<\/em> tell you, without hesitation and with<\/em> pride, is that I\u2019m black. I identify as black. I was raised that way. I was raised in a household by my black father and black stepmother and my black sisters. My upbringing was full of blackness, not even intentionally but by virtue of who my parents are. My white mother obviously had a hand in raising me\u2014we spent summers with her in Michigan<\/a>\u2014but largely, my foundation, self-esteem, pride and identity were crafted by my black parents….<\/p>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is where I point out some facts about myself. I am mixed. I\u2019m the product of a Caucasian woman from France and a black man from Alabama. I will tell you, without hesitation, that I am biracial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,395,8,20],"tags":[27847,3234,27722],"class_list":["post-55391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-autobiography","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-panama-jackson","tag-the-root","tag-very-smart-brothas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55392,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55391\/revisions\/55392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}